Know what you want to do but flexible on where you want to go? Or maybe you have a burning desire to visit a certain country but need recommendations on how to spend your time there? Whether you’ve decided your travel preferences or not, we can help.
1) Walking or cycling the Austrian Lakes – From the base of a cosy lakeside property or a 4-star hotel in the town of Strobl, you’ll spend each day exploring the idyllic waters of Austria. Your activities will be flexible, with a choice of cycling and walking. Along the way, you’ll be able to visit the Mozart museum, take a cable car up the Zwölferhorn mountain and explore Salzburg’s fairy-tale Baroque palaces and Renaissance gardens.
2) Cycle Indochina & Angkor – After the ultimate biking holiday? The Indochina & Angkor cycling activity holiday takes you through three fascinating countries: Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. By bike, we’ll see the eucalyptus and tapioca fields of rural Thailand and, of course, the jungle-surrounded wonder of Angkor Wat and its network of ancient temples and moats. You’ll also cycle across the Vietnamese border and through the “rice bowl” of Vietnam, the Mekong Delta.
3) Canoeing on the Dordogne – Canoeing is a simultaneously active and relaxing way to see one of the most interesting waterways in France. After we’ve given you all the essential know-how for canoe-handling, you’ll be on your way, admiring golden-pink limestone cliffs, medieval chateaux and medieval villages. All your hotels are in lovely spots with their own swimming pools for you to unwind in.
4) Arctic Circle Aurora Adventure – This amazing winter adventure takes you to Sápmi (also known as Lapland). Picturesque, icy and remote, you’ll enjoy this region while hosted by two Sámi residents, learning about their way of life and looking out for the Northern Lights each night. Your holiday will be packed with winter activities such as dogsledding, snowshoeing and skiing in the forest.
5) Namibian Family Adventure – This family activity holiday (for age 9+) will take you to a landscape of rolling desert scenery and star-studded night skies untouched by city lights. We’ll watch the sun rise from one of the tallest sand dunes in the world and see desert elephants roam around Namibia’s highest mountain. We’ll get to many of our destinations by car, but there will be plenty of chances to walk amongst the scenery and try other activities, like sandboarding and quad biking across the sand dunes. You’ll never forget sights of classic African wildlife such as zebra, wildebeest, giraffes and lions!
There are all sorts of activity holidays you can go on abroad with Exodus. Whether your thing is trekking, canoeing, skiing or cycling, you can find trips with the activity focus you want. A lot of our holidays roll several activities into one so that you get a great, all-round experience. Will you zip-line through a jungle, trek a mountain range, or try out some snorkelling?
We also have a great selection of mixed-activity family-friendly holidays with opportunities to explore at an appropriate ability level (see each individual package to get an idea of the minimum age appropriate for the trip).
How are the activities graded?
You’ll notice we’ve given each of our activity trips a “leisurely”, “moderate” or “challenging” rating. This is to give you a good idea of what to expect from your holidays so that you don’t turn up and find it’s too much or too little for your taste. As a guideline, all trips require a certain level of good health and enjoyment of the outdoors. You can read more to find out how our grading system works in full detail.
We’ve also put together some handy guides to help you prepare for your activity holidays and make sure your fitness is up to scratch before you go. These complement our activity grading system and we recommend you take a look.
What age groups are suitable for your activity holidays?
This depends on which holiday you’re looking at. If you’re bringing the whole family, including children, you may want to look at our family activity holidays specifically.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have challenging hikes for experienced walkers aged 16 and above, such as our Everest Base Camp treks. Most of our cycling holidays are also 16+.
If in doubt, simply consult the age recommended at the top of the page of the holiday you’ve got your eye on!
What do I need to wear for an activity holiday?
This has a lot to do with the activities you expect to participate in and the climate. As a rule, sturdy walking shoes that you’ve broken in are an essential. If you’re going on a winter holiday or something that involves boating, you should consult the overview tab to see if any additional equipment is provided by us, or if you need to bring it yourself.
Please be aware that even if you’re going on an activity holiday abroad to a region that generally has a warm climate, your adventure may take you to higher altitudes where the temperature can drop or where colder nights might be common. Wherever you go, it’s always wise to bring layers!
Are flights and accommodation included?
Please see the individual trip pages and Trip Notes for details of what is included in specific trips. We have 1000s of flight options at our fingertips so if you would like to book your flights with us as well please discuss your plans with our Sales team, or if booking online, let us know what you’d like and we’ll come back to you with some options. For more details on the flights we offer and the benefits of booking your flights through us, please see our flight information page https://www.exodus.co.uk/your-flights-your-choice.
Are the trips guided?
We offer a mix of guided and self-guided trips. Some people love to travel in groups and others prefer to go at their own pace, so we’ve taken this into account and designed amazing activity holidays for every type of traveller.
If you’re eying up a specific holiday, it should indicate whether the trip is guided or self-guided in the “Ways to Travel” field at the top of the page. Some holidays also offer the option to travel in a private group with people you know only.
What are the groups like?
If you choose to travel as part of one of our guided groups, you’ll probably find it’s a mix of solo travellers, couples and friends. This can be a really enriching experience; in fact, it sometimes results in travellers making new life-long friends who they plan future trips with!
My 4th trip with Exodus, and one that I would highly recommend.
A lovely mix of coastal, inland and mountain walks. Contrasting accommodations: a coastal hotel in Soller and mountain monastery retreat at Lluc. Great local food, lovely group.
We were aware of the Douro wine region but not all the other interesting aspects of the region of Northern Portugal we visited. Our guide Teresa Pires is a charming person with excellent interpersonal skills which which she was able to convey her super local knowledge of visited areas. Throughout she was very professional with lots of communication with the group, clear timetables and access to her via phone at any time she was not there, giving an extra sense of security. Flexibility in order to meet varied requests from group members was really appreciated. She was very keen to introduce Portuguese ways, history and food in a relaxed and positive way.
She responded in an excellent way when things , not of her making, went wrong. For example taking me and my husband to hospital emergency care, and on another occasion ensuring alll the group was well away from vehicles on the motorway when the van was fired to stop with a flat tyre. Overall the safety and care of group members was always a priority. Whilst it was Teresa on the spot, although she did not need to, she didn’t forget to point out that she was supported by the local exodus office team.
Teresa was excellent at introducing us to many new experiences and gave much information on the local communities. particular highlights included the organic farm and wine tasting, cruising on a traditional boat in the delta area ( we should have remembered to take our binoculars with us for the birdlife including flamingoes), rail trip through the heart of the Douro with vineyards stretching up the slopes, baking a local speciality cake, immersing our feet in the salt pans and visiting a sparkling wine making cellar. As a finale the end visit to bustling Porto with all its interesting facets was a great end to the trip. Teresa made sure that all the lovely restaurants we visited were able to give us vegetarian dishes. Local guides were excellent on the whole, only exception was the archeology guide who talked about things other than the archeology!
Teresa was always happy to take the extra step for members of the group-overall a fabulous trip leader who did an excellent and memorable job.
The overall trip was excellent. This was because of Teresa Pires, our tour guide, who was friendly, very knowledgeable about the local and regional architecture and history and well-organised. Nothing was too much trouble for Teresa and she was calm and patient, even when there were unexpected events, such as one of our party being unwell and needing a visit to the hospital, and a flat tyre on the motorway. Also, even when the lunch or dinner was not included in the itinerary, Teresa provided options and continued to help with arrangements and translation. She has an excellent rapport with all the people at the places we visited and that made us feel very welcome. The group of people on this trip were lovely, like-minded and everyone got along, which was an added bonus. The hotels were all very good, and the facilities in line with the higher expectations of a Premium Adventure.
